The bone mark of the Furox
by dharak
Summary: My version of Fanning the Flames. Me and a member of my crew hear about a dangerous artifact, and run across some surprising help when we try and stop a fellow racer from being in danger.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Booster or any of it's plotlines. This story is pretty much a rewrite of Dragon Booster episode Fanning the Flames. In this story, I am a Felisar, a humanoid being with the head of a cat, clawed fingers and toes, a mane of hair, coats of fur and a tail. In my case, I have brown fur and blonde mane. It's braided with leather. My clothes are a simple shirt and calf length pants, both dark red. The symbol of my racing crew, a red serpent head, is on the right sleeve. My eyes are green, and I have a pair of thin framed gasses with narrow lenses. The frames are red. Cali has black fur and brown hair, and has the same outfit as me. Her eyes are blue. Arisa wears a brown racing outfit with a eel symbol. Her fur is gray and her mane black. Her eyes are brown.**

**I am now on deviantart. I have pictures of stuff from my stories there. I joined recently, so stuff will be added in the future. **

**I will be switching between two of my OC's in this story. One of the OC's, Ryfen, is one I made to represent me personally. My POV will indicate when the story is being told from my eyes. The other OC is another Felisar named Riza. Riza's POV will show when the story is in her point of view. Pictures of Fyredash and Redsteak are in my deviantart gallery. My name on that website is Origa6000.**

My POV

In the huge metatropolis of Dragon City, the huge courtroom of the Down City Crew Council rang loudly with the arguing voices of various crews and their leaders. I happened to be in a shouting match with my longtime rival Arisa.

Our disagreements were interrupted when Phistus, the leader of the council, slammed his huge fist down on the table, saying loudly, "This isn't a child's game, Pyrah! We do not take turns running the down city crew council."

"Hey, all I'm asking is hat we spread the heat around," Pyrah responded, spreading her arms. The leader of the Dragon Flares then said coldly, placing her hands on her hips, "we want the power too, you know."

"She's right," backed one of my least favorite crew leaders, Moordryd Paynn. Me and my second in command, Cali, exchanged wary glances. There are two crews that my crew, the Flaming Serpents, commonly clashed with. The Dragon Eyes and the Mud Eels, Arisa's racing crew. Personally, I didn't like that Moordryd was involved in this, or the council in general.

"I lead this council, Paynn," Phistus said forcefully, straightening to his full height. "I keep a tight grip on things," he continued, pointing his thumb at himself. "I've won the right to do so by force!"

Phistus ended the announcement by smashing his fists together and producing a cracking sound. "Would you wish to challenge me again?" Phistus said, smiling. Moordryd gave a faint smile back.

_Why is he smiling? _I immediately thought. I bared my teeth faintly. My ears perked at the sound of a unpleasant voice.

"I believe I have a better use for collective energies than this, childish bickering," Word Paynn said, idly trailing a clawed hand in the air as he emerged form the gloom. Moordryd, Pyrah, me, Arisa and Cali all looked toward him.

"Mr. Paynn, sir," Phistus said, gaining a apologetic posture and giving a courteous half bow. "We are honored."

"I don't need to be honored by _his _presence," I muttered under my breath, frisking my tail. I had always felt that Word was evil somehow, although I didn't know why. Yet.

Word inspected his clawed hand, saying, "yes, I'm sure that you are." he lowered his hand and paced up to the council table. He held out a glowing pod of some sort.

"My research has located a ancient artifact," Word announced. Phistus raised a eyebrow, as did Arisa. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes, wondering what Word was up to.

Word let go of the glowing orb. It flew into the air, then arched onto the center of the council table and projected a hologram. A shape like a flame hovered above the pod.

I tightened my jaw when I saw the shape. I just knew that I'd heard of it, but it had been so long ago…

_Darn it! _I though, clenching my fists. _I know I've seen that thing somewhere._

"It is in a ancient and secret fortress known as the Scale Citadel," Word said chillingly. "You and your crews will obtain it for me."

Everyone stared with mesmerized curiosity at the formidable fortress citadel. Some even tilted their heads like curious birds. The hologram flickered and then projected the image of a ornately carved, perfectly square box.

"It is sealed in this metal cube," Word continued. "Do not open it, or you risk damaging the Furox, and I do not appreciate damaged goods."

There was a sudden erupting of annoyed comments. Word lowered his head and stated, "the job is open to all."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Moordryd give his father a startled glance. I, for one, didn't trust Payn, especially since I had a nagging feelings the Furox would not be a good thing.

"Whoever retrieves the Furox will have my gratitude," Word finished, smiling. "And that is worth far more than mere money."

People started to clap and cheer enthusiastically, clearly moved by Word's speech. "Do think we should go after it, Ryfen?" Cali asked me.

I took a deep breath, then answered. "Just clap for now," I said. "I'll think about it."

Me and Cali both started to clap along with the crowd. Over the noise, I heard Phistus say, "my crew will have it in your hands by tomorrow, Mr. Payn."

"Not if I get there first, knucklehead," Pyrah challenged sharply. She abruptly turned and ran out of the council room. Phistus stood there for a moment with a surprised expression. Then he turned and ran after Pyrah. Everybody else funneled out in a mad rush as well. Me and Cali left too.

Once outside, we went over to our dragons. My dragon, a white draconium sky-class, nuzzled me affectionately when I approached.

"Whoa there, Fyredash," I told him, rubbing Fyredash on the head. My dragon is built slimly, with long, graceful legs and a serpentine form. His paws are tipped with pale yellow claws. His paws are a dark blue. Above the front paws, Fyredash has dark, purplish red stripes. His underbelly is dark blue. His eyes are yellow, and lined with dark blue. Long, thin ears trail from the sides of his head. They are also a dark purple/red. Firedash's head, neck, back and some of his tail have a flame resembling pattern adorning them. A grayish blue nose horn that's about three inches long is on his nose, between the nostrils. Everywhere else on his body is white.

Cali's dragon is a red draconium magma class with a touch of psi class attitude. He's covered with dark red markings.

OOOOOOOO

Three hours after this, I was participating in a street race. Although I'm in the Dragon City Racing Academy, I still race in the street racing circuit, lead a crew, and hold a spot in the Down City Council. In order to do this, though, I couldn't use mag techniques or Academy class gear in the street races. I didn't mind, though. I still loved challenging myself in street races. The lineup for the race was me, Moordryd, Artha Penn, Kitt Won, Riza Greenfield on her white draconium psi class dragon Emerald, and two other racers I didn't bother to know the names of.

The race began and we were off. Some ways into the race, me and Fyredash were pounding in the middle of the lineup, caught up in the trill of racing. When two racers got in front of me and began to fight, I activated my ramming gear and charged right between them. Fyredash slammed in between the two other racers, knocking their dragons to the side. Seeing them fall behind, I signaled to Fyredash to pick up the pace. He did, and the wind blew past my serpent shaped helmet, making a wild howl in my ears. At the moment, my only two close competitors were Riza and Emerald, who were a couple dragonlenghts behind me, and Kitt Wonn, who wasn't far behind Riza. Two other racers were about twenty feet in front of me, but I was in the position to use thruster gear and get in front of them.

_Penn's still trailing in the very back, _I thought. _I wonder if he'll catch up._

Sudden shouts drew my attention back ahead. The two dragons in front of me had plowed through some lightweight obstacles and gotten jammed in a narrow gap. I urged Fyredash to pick up speed. When he got close to the jammed dragons, Fyredash leapt right onto them, then launched himself higher in the air. I activated my white aero gear and my red thruster gear, propelling us straight across the finish line. Riza had Emerald simply jump over the dragon pileup. I heard her give shout of amazement. Fyredash skidded to a halt two dragonlenghts across the finish line. Since I had claimed first place, I looked back to see what Riza had shouted about. What I saw amazed me.

Artha Penn came dashing across the finish line on his dragon Beau. Riza came in third, the gray furred, brown haired Felisar looking annoyed by her loss. Her white draconium psi class dragon looked annoyed to, his green striped back arched. Still, they both smiled and Riza, dusting off her green shirt and pants, said, "good job, Penn."

"I have to concur," I said as all three of us and out dragons left the track. "It's always a good thing to get second place."

Me and Fyredash went back to our tent. Which, strangely enough, was by the Dragon Flare tent.

Riza's POV

I was happy for Artha and all, but ever since he'd received the second place trophy, he had been obsessing about it. It was starting to get annoying for both me and Emerald. We where rescued when the four of us walked up to Parm and Lance.

"Drac move, Artha!" Lance said enthusiastically, hopping up and down in front of Beau and Emerald.

"Yeah, that was, wasn't it?" Artha stated smugly. "Just how good am I?" I saw Beau give him a accusing look. "Uh, I mean, we."

"I can't believe you beat Kitt. I can't believe you got second place!" Parm said. When Artha gave him a annoyed look, Parm added, "what a move! How did you do that?"

Just then, I saw Kitt ride up next to us on Wyldfyre. "Well, I guess I have someone to thank," Artha began. I saw Kitt smile. "Someone who's talent and perseverance have been a example to all…me!"

I saw Kitt's smile turn into a round mouthed gape of amazement. Me, Parm and Lance all saw Kitt's murder glare focused on Artha and said in a prompting tone, "_and?"_

"And you guys, but that's it, no one else to thank," Artha finished, sweeping his arm through the air.

"I know when I'm not appreciated!" Kitt stated. She rode off on Wyldfyr, Artha watching her go with a confused expression.

My POV

After Cali and I went back to our base in the wastelands with our racing gear, I decided to go back to the racetrack and watch a couple of the other races. This would have to be aborted, though, because I saw Pyrah pass us, walking toward Kitt, who was tending to Wyldfyr.

"I'm going to find out what Pyrah's up to," I told Cali quietly. Dismounting Fyredash, I hid behind a tent by Kitt and Wyldfyr. Fyredash followed me, and we both pressed up against the tent wall, listening.

"I'm not in the mood to talk, Pyrah," we heard Kitt say. "I'm having a very bad day."

"I saw the race, Kitt," Pyrah said smoothly. "The way you blazed through that track-until Artha stole your fire."

There was a moment of silence. Then Pyrah said, "ah, you should have won! You got burned."

"What's it to ya?" Kitt responded.

"I'm looking for someone with real fire to join my crew, the Dragon Flares. We're a family, and a family shares success. We give credit were credit is due. You are the fastest racer I have ever seen. I would be honored if you would consider it."

Another moment of silence. Then we heard Kitt say, "well, it is about time someone showed appreciation."

"There is a catch," Pyrah said. "You have to pass the initiation."

_I bet this will have something to do with the Furox, _I thought. Beside me, Fyredash let out a barely audible snort like he was thinking the same as I was.

"Just tell me when, and where," Kitt said strongly.

A minute after that, Kitt and Wyldfyr dashed off. I mounted Fyredash again and we paced quietly back over to Cali.

"What were they talking about?" she asked from Redstreak's saddle.

"Pyrah's convinced Kitt to go after the Furox for her. We have to stop it."

"Stop what, exactly?"

I turned my head and saw Pyrah, mounted on her dragon. "Are you trying to prevent my crew from getting the Furox, and having the Flaming Serpents claim it?"

"No. Me and my crew don't want the Furox," I responded, while Fyredash and I turned to stare Pyrah and her dragon in the face. "And you shouldn't be using Kitt to get it."

Pyrah just smiled sickly. She darted off, while me and Cali ran after Kitt.

I wasn't going to waste time going to get our racing gear. As it happened, since me and my crew do our training in the Wastelands of Loan, we know it very well. So we know where the Scale Citadel is, but we had never gone inside. Now I wished I'd had people guard it.

Riza's POV

After the race, we all returned to the Dragon Temple under Penn stables. Artha's bragging was really starting to get annoying now. Emerald was lying on the ground, covering his ears.

"Oh, you should have seen it!" Artha boasted. "They don't just give these away to anyone, you know."

_If you don't stop soon, I'm joining Emerald on the floor, _I groaned inwardly.

"I watched the race today," Mortis the Dragon Priest said, walking over to stand in front of our group. "That was a great outside move that Kitt taught you."

Artha looked up from the trophy and smiled sheepishly.

"I've learned that Word Payn has sent the down city crews on a terrible and dangerous quest."

Emerald perked up, standing on all four legs again. "A quest?" Parm said nervously.

"Where and what is the quest?" I inquired, crossing my arms.

"To the forgotten Scale Citadel," Mortis answered. Beau lifted his head and growled. "A fortress that protects an ancient red bone mark."

"Bone mark?" Lance asked.

"Bone marks hold the spirits of ancient war dragons," Mortis continued. "In this case, the Furox. He battled against the original Dragon Booster. This bone mark is very powerful, powerful enough to mutate a dragon into a terrible force, and powerful enough to affect humans too." Beau shook his head and let out a low roar.

"Creepy," Parm said.

"And very evil," I said.

Artha, with a faraway expression on his face, sighed and said, "do you think you could polish this baby before we go?" He held it toward Lance, looked offended and crossed his arms.

Mortis lifted his staff and shot a beam of gold draconian energy from it. The energy streamed into the trophy, which turned burning hot. We all watched with shocked expressions as Artha fumbled with it, dropping the trophy on the ground.

Mortis lowered his staff back onto the ground. "There. Now it's clean," he said quietly.

"Right. Uh," Artha began as he picked the trophy of the floor, "we'll just get to the Scale Citadel then. Uh, now."

My POV

Me and Cali had reached the wastelands, but it had taken forever because Dragon Flares kept getting in our way. It was very time consuming to deal with them, especially since we had no gear with us. Although I know some mag techniques, Cali didn't know any yet. Eventually, though, we came near the Scale Citadel. We charged toward the fortress. Then a Dragon Flare leaped out of nowhere, knocking us sideways. Fyredash emitted his roar, the usual faint screech at the end. He dug his claws into the ground, bracing himself against the Dragon Flare's dragon. We halted at the edge of a twenty foot cliff. I took out my blocking staff and made my opponent see stars. Cali then signaled to Redstreak to mag the Dragon Flare away. Fyredash and I dropped back, letting the opponent's dragon reel backward. Then we charged forward, Fyredash ramming his shoulder into the magma class. This drove him right against the cliffside by the Scale Citadel entrance.

Me and Fyredash both laughed, watching the Dragon Flare and his ride, battered and bruised, run off like a scared rabbit. Cali and Redstreak snorted amusingly too.

"Okay, in we-" I began. Then something streaked past us and right into the citadel.

"Kitt!" I exclaimed. I turned to Cali. "I thought I saw Artha's friends further back. Find them. I'm going after Kitt."

Fyredash immediately ran directly into the citadel. We had only been running for a few minutes, though, before I saw Artha and Beau ahead. Fyredash slowed to a trot. As we approached him, we heard him sigh and say, "I don't see any crews, Beau." He looked around one more time. "Maybe Mortis got some bad info."

He looked around when Fyredash halted next to him. "Ryfen?" he asked, clearly surprised. "Are you here for the Furox?"

"No," I said. "I'm looking for Kitt. Have you seen her?"

Just then we both saw a familiar red magma class dash across he huge hall in front of us.

"Someone's after the Furox, all right," Artha said. "And in a real hurry, too."

Artha's vidd screen popped up. "She just flew past us out here," Parm said. "I think it was Kitt."

"It was Kitt!" I snapped. "Pyrah sent her after the Furox."

"Kitt Wonn?" Artha said, glancing towards me, then back to his vidd screen and looking up once more.

"Yes," I snapped, irked that we hadn't gotten a move on. "Can we go after her now?"

Artha bit his lip. He took out a star shaped amulet.

"Oh, go ahead," I said impatiently. "I know you're the Dragon Booster."

The look on Artha's face was priceless. "How do you know?" he asked, shocked.

I rolled my eyes. "First of all, Penn, since you have a secret identity, you should have denied what I just said. Second of all, you are always wearing the gauntlet the Dragon Booster wears, and your dragon is the same shape and build as the dragon of legend, minus frills and being the same color. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."

"You haven't told anyone, have you?" Artha asked.

"Nope. I've only told my crew and their dragons. Me, Fyredash, and them haven't told anybody else. And we've known about your identity for months."

Artha nodded. Then he held the amulet in the air. Shouting, "release the dragon!" he placed it in the gauntlet. A golden flash enveloped them, but I didn't stay to watch. Me and Fyredash began to head in the direction Kitt had. Artha and Beau, now in their booster forms, ran after us.

When we had Kitt within our sights, I elected to allow Artha and Beau to pull ahead. Beau dashed past Wyldfyr, planting himself in the magma class dragon's path. Kitt halted her dragon, staring at Artha. Fyredash skidded to a halt next to Beau. Me and my dragon directed our gazes at Kitt. Although she had been looking at Artha, she didn't fail to notice us.

"I know what you're after, the Furox!" Artha said.

"And how do you know that? Did you tip him off, Ryfen, so you could make a alliance and get the Furox?" Kitt asked suspiciously.

"No," I responded plainly. "I'm helping him keep any crew away from here."

"It's very dangerous and must not leave this temple. Who put you up to this?" Artha asked.

At first I wondered why he was asking when I'd already told him. _I guess he wants to hear what Kitt says about this, _I thought.

Kitt huffed and said, placing a hand on her chest, "someone who appreciates me." Kitt paused briefly, then said, removing her hand from her chest, "Pyrah and the Dragon Flares, what's it to you anyway?"

"People do appreciate you," Artha said. "Some might even look up to you."

"Oh yeah?" Kitt said, sadly looking downward. "Like who?"

"Like your friend, Artha Penn."

Kitt laughed and said, "What, the stable brat? All he cares about is himself, he is no friend of mine."

Artha dismounted Beau and walked over next to Wyldfyr. "Uh, yeah, Kitt," he said, grasping the amulet. He removed it. A bright flash lit the area, and both me and Kitt covered our eyes. When the golden light faded, I heard the dragons give startled grunts. Lowering my arms, I immediately thought, _what are you doing, Penn?_

Artha was now back to normal. Lifting his head, he finished his previous sentence. "He is."

Kitt gasped and said, "A-Artha Penn?" she dismounted Wyldfyr. Walking up to Artha, she said quietly, "you're the Dragon Booster?"

Artha awkwardly shifted his helmet. "Kinda. Yeah," he said.

Kitt stared round mouthed for a moment. Then she shouted, "you didn't tell me!" and shoved Artha onto the ground. "What? Don't you trust me?" Kitt demanded. Artha propped himself into a sitting position and said, "Wait, Kitt. That's not it."

"Didn't think I was worth letting in on your little secret?" Kitt said coldly.

"Look, the Furox is a bone mark with the spirit of a seriously bad dragon in it," Artha said as Kitt climbed back onto Wyldfyr. "You do not want to mess with that, you can't control it's energy."

Kitt and Wyldfyr were gone at the end of the sentence, running further into the fortress. Fyredash roared and leaped to one side as Wyldfyr blew past him and Beau. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh when I saw that Artha was still on the ground, his helmet nearly blown off.

"Well, that went well, don't you think?"

Beau looked down at him with a disproving eye, shaking his head.

"That did not go well, Penn," I said. "Not well at all." I turned Fyredash in the direction Kitt had gone and we ran after her. Behind us, I caught a glimpse of another flash of golden light, then heard Beau once again following us.

I was about to catch up with Kitt when we entered a hallway. Kitt noticed me. Probably annoyed by my presence, she urged Wyldfyr to pick up speed. Once we were both some ways in, blades began to shot out of the walls from many directions. Me and Fyredash dodged though them, but Wyldfyr's bipedal build was handling better. We were keeping pace, but gaining no ground. For the hundredth time, I wished I had some gear with me, especially since Kitt had some thruster gear.

We had just emerged from the blade tunnel and into another, this one with huge stone rammers protruding from the walls like sideways walls. Fyredash and I ran toward Kitt, but Fyredash skidded to a halt when two of the stone smashers slammed together, nearly crushing us and separating us from Kitt.

_Darn it! _I thought. _If I had some thruster or grapple gear, this would be easy to get over. _I groaned. _Maybe I should have detoured to the base to get some gear. But there's no time for that now. _

"Any idea how to get over this, Penn?" I asked Artha as he and Beau paced up next to me.

"No bright ideas. Sorry," he said.

I took a deep breath. "I have one," I said. "But it's pretty much manually climbing over and through these things. Worse, it will take forever."

And so it did. Despite Beau and Fyredash running as fast As they could, it still took a long time to get past the stone crushers. Fyredash, due to our practicing in the Wastelands of Loan, pulled far ahead. We entered the area with the Furox. We were in time to see Pyrah open the box with the bone mark, and to see Moordryd and Kitt standing nearby. When I saw the bone mark begin to glow, I shouted, "no, get away from it!" me and Fyredash charged toward Pyrah. But before were were even fifteen feet away from her dragon, Pyrah had already mounted her magma class bipedal dragon. Pyrah raised the bone mark high in the air. A blast of intense heat exploded from it. Fyredash skidded to a halt, roaring painfully when the heat seared him and me as well. I yelled painfully, and Fyredash shied away from Pyrah and her dragon. Now were about sixteen feet away from her, with the Dragon Flare leader between me and Kitt, as well as Moordryd.

"Now I will rule the council!" Pyrah shouted in a otherworldly, echoing voice. "And much more!" her dragon magged on the bone mark. As soon as it made contact with him, the dragon's markings glowed brighter, and his eyes flashed from blue to yellow. Glowing spikes shot up from his back and tail, making Fyredash and me balk away even further in shock. With a flash of light, the back spikes extended to over two feet long. The dragon's tail became heavily spiked. His head became a saw toothed frilled nightmare, and the dragon roared so loudly my eardrums felt they would burst, especially since Felisar hearing is highly sensitive.

Pyrah's dragon turned toward Moordryd and Kitt. They both flinched. Then Moordryd said, "I'm out," and when the Furox possessed dragon swiped at him, he jumped right off the edge of the platform.

I didn't see what happened to him. I didn't have the time, either. The Pyrah's dragon, zooming in on me and my dragon as the biggest threat, charged at me and Fyredash. We dodged, but then the dragon swung it's spiked tail, sending Fyredash flying toward the edge of the chasm under the Furox's altar platform, sending us further away from Kitt than before. Fyredash quickly magged me off, then drove his claws into the edge of the altar platform. I picked myself of the ground. Since I was now way to far away from Kitt to help, I ran over to Fyredash, grabbing his forelegs and attempting to pull him up. Pyrah and her dragon, apparently satisfied that they'd dealt with us, lunged at Kitt. She screamed, trying to shield herself with her arms. Then a blur of black, blue and gold swiped her from in front of Furox.

"Thanks," Kitt said.

I returned to trying to pull Fyredash up, barely registering Furox roaring at Artha. I couldn't let one of my best partners in the world fall to his death. Fyredash had been with me since it was a child.

"Come on, Fyredash," I said desperately.

Fyredash growled. He glowed with mag energy. The white draconiun energy flowed through me, giving extra strength. Fyredash then helped further by kicking off the side of the chasm, landing splay legged on solid ground. I hugged him, then mounted his saddle. "Ready to go, buddy?"

Fyredash bared his teeth in a smile.

"That's what I thought."

We ran up next to Artha in time to see Pyrah and her dragon, now Furox, running toward the exit.

"It's trying to escape the citadel!" Artha said. "we can't let it get to the city."

"Then we'll stop it!" Kitt said, mounting Wyldfyr. As her dragon raised his head, Kitt lifted a hand. Pointing upward, she said, "this doesn't mean I'm not totally still mad at you. Let's do it!" Kitt shouted, Wyldfyr taking off in full run, Beau and Fyredash leaping after him.

As Furox approached the exit, we were met with the sight of a green bull class dragon barreling through, followed by a bipedal magma class dragon with frilled ears and dark red markings. A white draconium psi class with green stripes, feet and underbelly followed.

"Coming through!" the rider of the bull class shouted. All three of us skidded to a halt.

"Parm? Riza!" Artha said.

"Cali!" I shouted happily. I'd never been so happy to see my best friend. Cali smiled in return.

As soon as Parm saw Furox barreling toward him, he yelled in fright. Furox roared at him, and Parm yelled some more, covering his face with his arms. Cyrano turned sideways, and Pyrah's bone mark possessed dragon slammed into the heavy bull class. Parm peeked out from behind his arms, seeing Furox with his head low to the ground, dazed.

"Nice job, Proffesor," Riza said as the grey furred Felisar rode up next to Parm on her dragon Emerald. Then Lance rode up next to Cyrano on Fracshun, saying, "Parm, Let's move before it gets up."

They both ran past Furox to come stand by us. Cali and Riza followed them.

"I've got a plan," Kitt said, pointing her thumb at herself. "If I can reactivate the citadel defenses, maybe we can trap that thing in here."

Artha looked around at the lights on the pillars. "Kitt, Ryfen, Riza, let's temporarily short out those draconium lights," he said, pointing at them. "That should buy us some time. Parm, Lance, Cali, activate your thermal goggles."

Everyone did so. Then Kitt said, "let's do it!" and Artha, Kitt, Riza and me all ran toward the lights. We all began to use or mag staffs to hit the draconium lights, therefore deactivating them. Furox was left in the dark, with no method of visible location. Wyldfyr magged Kitt back onto him, as Fyredash did with me and Beau with Artha. Emerald magged Riza back onto his saddle. We ran back over to Cali, Parm, and Lance.

"Okay," Artha said, "let's see how powerful you are in the dark!"

Furox began to pace through the darkened space. Raising a finger to his lips, Artha gave us all silent hand signals. We performed the instructions. Kitt, Parm and Riza went to the far right of Furox, while me, Artha, Cali, and Lance went to the far left. We traveled stealthily behind the pillars around Furox. He swung his head from side to side, trying to see us. Then Lance accidentally scrapped against a pillar. Furox swung his head toward the noise, hissing. Artha lifted up his hands and moved them forward and back, indication not to run. I raised my finger to my lips and mouthed, _stay quiet and stay still. _

Lance looked scared, but he looked absolutely terrified when Furox's teeth came less than a inch from his head. Still, he obeyed our instructions, staying absolutely still.

Riza's POV

I was ready to try and stop Furox fro hurting Lance, but I was worried that Furox would touch Lance if I did. I heard a faint clink from Kitt's direction. I looked toward her and saw Kitt toss a drakal in her hand. Then she threw it on the floor in the middle of the cavernous hall. The coin rang distinctly when it hit the stone. Furox noticed the noise and withdrew from Lance, stalking over to where the coin was. He let out a grating growl of frustration when he found nothing.

At this point we had managed to reach the spot where the Furox's containment box had been. There was a set of gears by it. A rock, probably placed there by Kitt, had jammed the gears, stopping the traps.

"You take Parmon and Lance through, Artha," Kitt said. "Ryfen, you get Riza and Cali out, and then I'll reactivate the door and trap that thing."

Ryfen nodded from Fyredash's saddle. Her dragon was pacing alongside me. "I'll give them a cue when it's time to go."

Wyldfyr went over by the trap gears. Dismounting, Kitt ran over and jammed her mag staff under the rock stuck in the gears. She pulled down on it with all her might, but the weight of the rock proved to be too much. The mag staff broke, sending off a flash of light. Furox immediately noticed, turning toward the sound and light. He roared.

"He's on to us!" Lance said.

"Well, at least there's no illumination for the Furox to correctly visualize out exact location," Parm said.

As soon as he finished, the lights began to flicker. Then they turned on again.

"You were saying?" Kitt said.

Furox wheeled around and leaped in front of us. He began to glow a angry red.

My POV

"Mag blast!" I yelled. We all scattered out of the way, and the mag blast hit the rock in the trap gears. The stone dragon jaws slammed shut over the altar once home to the bone mark.

"We're trapped!" Lance said in dismay.

"If we can spread out and weaken him, maybe there's a way to break the mag lock on the bone mark," Artha said.

"But, how?" Parm asked. Beau roared and reared up on his hind legs. Then he dropped back down onto fours.

"Bring it together, guys," Artha said. "I think the dragon of Legend has a idea."

Furox once again stomped in front of us, roaring. But this time, Beau roared back, his gold markings glowing. Then he shone brilliantly, and the other dragons all began to glow streams of draconium energy streamed form all of them. White draconium energy came from Emerald and Fyredash, red came from Redstreak and Wyldfyr, green came from Cyrano, blue from Frashun. It all streamed into Beau, who soon became obscured in golden light.

"Attack!" Pyrah shouted, pointing at Beau. Then, right when Furox was charging, Beau shot a broad beam of gold draconium energy at the dragon, who screeched to a halt. The bone mark peeled off. Pyrah and her dragon both returned to normal and collapsed on the spot.

"The bone mark!" Kitt shouted, pointing toward it.

Still glowing, the bone mark slid toward the edge of the chasm.

"You know what to do, Beau," Artha told his dragon. Beau magged Artha off. Sliding toward the Furox, Artha attempted to grab it. But the artifact slipped off into the chasm before he could get it.

"That sucker's gone," Lance said.

"Whoa, that was some teamwork," Artha said, standing up again. "Nice moves back there, too," Artha told Kitt when she rode up next to him. Kitt smiled, then her expression turned sour.

"So," Artha said, looking away, "Are we friends again?" he finished by looking back at Kitt with a nervous smile. Sheepishly.

Kitt paused for a bit. Then she said, "ah, sure. But no, wait, are you kidding? Friends? Let's see. You use my moves and take all the credit."

Artha gave another nervous smile.

"A-And then you keep secrets from me too."

Artha stared round mouthed then he said, "I said I was sorry."

"Well, what else haven't you told me, hero boy?" Kitt asked.

"That he totally likes you," Lance said.

"Lance!" Artha protested. Kitt smiled wryly. I laughed quietly, as did Fyredash. Riza smiled, amused, Emerald grinned too.

"Yes, well, looks like everything's back to normal around here," Parm said. Beau emitted his signature laugh, everyone else laughing along with him.


End file.
